24 mars 2014

Traditionally, in many countries, April 1 or April Fools’ Day is celebrated by pranks and practical jokes. This is the list of famous practical jokes that have appeared on radio and TV stations, newspapers, web sites, and have been performed by large corporations.Television stationsSpaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a hoax in 1957, showing Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest, the spaghetti weevil, had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees. It was, in fact, filmed in St Albans. Decades later CNN called this broadcast “the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled”.Smell-o-vision: In 1965, the BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odor over the airwaves to all viewers. Many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial’s success. In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax.In 2008, the BBC reported on a newly discovered colony of flying penguins. An elaborate video segment was even produced, featuring Terry Jones walking with the penguins in Antarctica, and following their flight to the Amazon rainforest.Radio stationsJovian-Plutonian gravitational effect: In 1976, British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC Radio 2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 am that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience “a strange floating sensation”. Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked, among them a woman who reported that she and her 11 friends were “wafted from their chairs and orbited gently around the room.Death of a mayor: In 1998, local WAAF shock jocks Opie and Anthony were discussing April Fool’s Day hoaxes, and sardonically stated that Boston mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident. Menino happened to be on a flight at the time, lending credence to the prank as he could not be reached. The pair repeated that the mayor was dead several times throughout the broadcast, however listeners who tuned in late to the broadcast did not hear that they were repeating a bit, and when they pretended to tell the “news” to an unsuspecting listener (the listener thought she was calling a different show), the rumor spread quickly across the city, eventually causing news stations to issue alerts denying the hoax. The pair were fired shortly thereafter.Archers theme tune change: BBC Radio 4 (2005): The Today Programme announced in the news that the long-running serial The Archers had changed their theme tune to an upbeat disco style.iBod: Every year, National Public Radio in the United States does an extensive news story on April 1. These usually start off more or less reasonably, and get more and more unusual. A recent example is the story on the “iBod,” a portable body control device. In 2008 it reported that the IRS, to assure rebate checks were actually spent, was shipping consumer products instead of checks. It also runs false sponsor mentions, such as “Support for NPR comes from the Soylent Corporation, manufacturing protein-rich food products in a variety of colors. Soylent Green is People”.Canadian three-dollar coin: In 2008, the CBC Radio program As It Happens interviewed a Royal Canadian Mint spokesman who broke “news” of plans to replace the Canadian five-dollar bill with a three-dollar coin. The coin was dubbed a “threenie”, in line with the nicknames of the country’s one-dollar coin (“loonie” due to its depiction of a common loon on the reverse) and two-dollar coin (“toonie”).Country to metal: Country and gospel WIXE in Monroe, North Carolina does a prank every year. In 2009, midday host Bob Rogers announced he was changing his show to heavy metal. This resulted in numerous phone calls, but about half were from listeners wanting to request a song.Hoax phone call to Mandela: In 1998, UK presenter Nic Tuff of West Midlands radio station pretended to be the British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then South African President Nelson Mandela for a chat. It was only at the end of the call when Nic asked Nelson what he was doing for April Fools’ Day that the line went dead.U2 live on rooftop in Cork: In 2009, hundreds of U2 fans were duped in an elaborate prank when they rushed to a shopping centre in Cork believing that the band were playing a surprise rooftop concert. The prank was organised by Cork radio station RedFM. The band were a tribute band called U2opia.Newspapers

In The Guardian newspaper, in the United Kingdom, on April Fool’s Day, 1977, a fictional mid-ocean state of San Serriffe was created in a seven-page supplement.Taco Liberty Bell: In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to “reduce the country’s debt” and renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell”. When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.A 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated, dated April 1, featured a story by George Plimpton on a baseball player, Hayden Siddhartha Finch, a New York Mets pitching prospect who could throw the ball 168 miles per hour (270 km/h) and who had a number of eccentric quirks, such as playing with one barefoot and one hiking boot. Plimpton later expanded the piece into a full-length novel on Finch’s life. Sports Illustrated cites the story as one of the more memorable in the magazine’s history.Associated Press were fooled in 1983 when Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University, provided an alternative explanation for the origins of April Fools’ Day. He claimed to have traced the practice to Constantines’ period, when a group of court jesters jocularly told the emperor that jesters could do a better job of running the empire, and the amused emperor nominated a jester, Kugel, to be the king for a day. Boskin related how the jester passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day and the custom became an annual event. Boskin explained the jester’s role as being able to put serious matters into perspective with humor. An Associated Press article brought this alternative explanantion to public’s attention in newspapers, not knowing that Boskin had invented the entire story as an April Fool’s Joke itself, and were not made aware of this until some weeks later.InternetKremvax: In 1984, in one of the earliest on-line hoaxes, a message was circulated that Usenet had been opened to users in the Soviet Union.April Fools’ Day Request for Comments: Almost every year since 1989, the Internet Engineering Task Force has included an April Fool in their Request for Comments publication, including a “Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol” and “Electricity over IP”.Dead fairy hoax: In 2007, an illusion designer for magicians posted on his website some images illustrating the corpse of an unknown eight-inch creation, which was claimed to be the mummified remains of a fairy. He later sold the fairy on eBay for £280.Minecraft 2.0: In 2013, Mojang gave a fake copy of Minecraft to select YouTube video makers for them make videos of this joke, and this copy of Minecraft included many silly things, such as evil chickens and making animals explode if you feed them too much. The fact that you could actually download this version if you knew where to look cemented this April Fool’s Day joke in even more.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times.EMBARGO spelled backward is O GRAB ME.The numbers on a roulette wheel add to 666.The fourth root of 2143/22 is nearly pi (3.14159265258).“A prosperous fool is a grievous burden.” — AeschylusSix countries have names that begin with the letter K, and each has a different vowel as the second letter: Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan.What time is it at the North Pole?The shortest three-syllable word in English is W.After the revolution, the French frigate Carmagnole used a guillotine as its figurehead.823502 + 381252 = 8235038125PRICES: CRIPES!“Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.” — MartialWhen Montenegro declared independence from Yugoslavia, its top-level domain changed from .yu to .me.Fathers can mother, but mothers can’t father.The Mall of America is owned by Canadians.Neil Armstrong was 17 when Orville Wright died.LONELY TYLENOL is a palindrome.258402 + 437762 = 2584043776“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” — PlutarchEdward Gorey’s pen names included Ogdred Weary, Raddory Gewe, Regera Dowdy, D. Awd­rey-Gore, E.G. Deadworry, Waredo Dyrge, Deary Rewdgo, Dewda Yorger, and Dogear Wryde. Writer Wim Tigges responded, “God reward ye!”WEALTH is an anagram of THE LAW.U.S. Navy submarines observe an 18-hour day.Joaquín Rodrigo wrote his compositions in Braille.45632 = –45 + 63×2“Thy modesty’s a candle to thy merit.” — Henry FieldingAlexander Pope was 4 foot 6.SOCIAL INEPTITUDE is an anagram of POTENTIAL SUICIDE.6! × 7! = 10!Is the correct answer to this question no?“Do something well, and that is quickly enough.” — Baltasar Gracián

5 februari 2014

The Young Turks Network"Tom Perkins, a founding partner of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, over the weekend compared the current wave of ostracism towards the incredibly wealthy to attacks on Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II in a letter to the editor in The Wall Street Journal.

This, naturally, caused an Internet uproar. So today Perkins went on Bloomberg TV to apologize. Except he didn't apologize at all — other than saying he regretted referring to the Kristallnacht, the the Nazi-organized pogrom against German Jews in 1938 that foreshadowed the Holocaust."

Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) host of The Young Turks discusses Tom Perkins' interview on Bloomberg, Cenk also discusses an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal defending Perkins' comments.

The Largest Online News Show in the World. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE STREAMING weekdays 6-8pm ET.

Young Turk (n), 1. Young progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement, or political party. 2. Young person who rebels against authority or societal expectations. (American Heritage Dictionary)

The Young Turks (Winner - Best Political Podcast & Best Political News Site of 2009) were the first original talk show on Sirius satellite radio and the first live, daily webcast on the internet. But that is not the revolution.

We are a rare show that combines all of the news that people care about in one place. We are not afraid to talk about politics and entertainment and sports and pop culture. But that is not the revolution either.

The real revolution is in daring to be honest with people. We don't patronize our viewers or lie to them. We have real conversations and deliver the news honestly.

Download audio and video of the full two hour show on-demand + the members-only post game show by becoming a member athttp://www.tytnetwork.com/member-opti.... Your membership supports the day to day operations and is vital for our continued success and growth.

What Sam Harris asks for, Sam Harris receives. He put out a challenge to video editors to make a video for his speech on morality, and it was as if he was talking directly to me. I thank the all mighty non-existent God that people like Sam are willing and able to concisely and with devastating impact put forward the argument against religion. His voice and his ideas are LONG overdue and severely needed. So happy to see that the internet has provided us with this new movement of reason, along with cat videos and porn, obviously.

Thought

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.